E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Saying no to Homer and the boys

Looks like the Portland Planning Commission has given the proposed Burnside-Couch traffic couplet a three thumbs down. There's a report on this over at citizen activist Chris Smith's blog, where he bemoans the decision. No maw stweetcars? Wah. Need maw pwetty winchpins.

Comments (11)

Maybe we can kill this thing off. We should all contact the Mayor and the City Commissioners right away. Surely they won't be so arrogant as to completely ignore what seems to be a very strong recommendation NOT TO MOVE AHEAD from the PLANNING Commission. The biggest problem with this couplet thing is that it isn't part of any kind of comprehensive plan...not to mention the at least $80 million price tag.

Why spend hundreds of millions for this project to divert autos from Burnside to ?--not to mention the windfall profits for landowners have theirs. Burnside can be made safer for traffic and peds with improvements, without doing this.

The no vote on Burnside/Couch Couplet is not a done deal just because the Planning Commission says no. Remember that the Planning Commission also said "no" on several aspects of the SoWhat Plan including the tram. Council ignored them. The back-room-dealing, lobbying, horse trading, and scams is not over yet. Meet, call and email your commissioners and insiders, and graft-artists immediately.

the plan wasn't a thoughtful one, or particularly visonary. and "city girl" is right--it's not really part of any larger plan.

Burnside illustrates one of the fundamental problems of growth-seeking planning: you work as hard as you can to get lots of development, people and money into an area--then lament the awful ensuing traffic, pollution, prices, unaffordable housing and other marginalizing effects.

but this is how eveybody plans. the 2040 plans, as Ethan Seltzer once told me, *requires* growth to work.

of course, calling for visionary planning that addresses too much growth and too little health will get you called "crazy" around here.

Road Work

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